#so i have to assume luke could also speak shyriiwook if he wanted

[phoenixkaptain]

Reading the novelization of A New Hope already changed how I saw Luke as a character but Splinter of the Mind’s Eye is going one step further and making me question the very fundamentals thought to be obvious about Luke.

Like, Luke is, for lack of a better term, a nerd. He studied languages and cultures -

“”Yes,” Luke admitted modestly. “I used to study a lot about certain worlds, back on my uncle’s farm on Tatooine. It was my only escape, and educational as well. This,” and he indicated the creature resting a massive long arm on his head and shaking him in a friendly fashion, “is a Yuzzem.””

-he wants to study more languages and cultures-

“Empty doorways beckoned to him and he was tempted, very tempted, to enter one of the ruined structures to find out if its interior was as well preserved as the outside.

This was not, he reminded himself firmly, the time for playful exploration. Their first concern was to find a way out, not to go poking around this ancient metropolis. However wonderful it was.”

Luke wants to know about people. He wants to know about cultures and creatures and he wants to be able to communicate and…

He really just. Is a great Jedi. He jumps between Leia and danger and he befriends the Yuzzem the prison guards thought would kill him and he wants to explore the creepy abandoned ruins of a civilization long past and he uses Anakin’s lightsaber underwater to cut the stem of a lilypad they use as a boat and he comments that the rock formations are almost too beautiful to cut down and he knows how to work Imperial explosives and

He’s a Jedi, man. He’s a Jedi. He’s been a Jedi this whole time, before any of us even knew what that actually meant.

[hinerdsitscat]

i just binge-read your "lars and organa" series and i want to know if you have any ideas what might have happened if they did take over the empire? would they have gone evil?

Oh dang, this takes me back (my very first foray into Star Wars fanfic!) I guess I sort of have an answer for you, because I started work on a more-or-less-officially-abandoned sequel to Lars & Organa, which was going to be another four-part cycle where the galaxy has to deal with an invasion from a Yuuzhan Vong-style empire from parts unknown. But it got a little too grim and also overloaded with stuff from the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series, so I moved on to other things.

But I did write a good chunk of it. 

In the first part of the sequel (tentatively titled A Day of Peace) while Luke is dealing with various Political Things and then running off to respond to a distress beacon from a mysteriously-reappeared Ezra Bridger, Leia is doing her thing with Rogue Squadron because the war with the Empire is still going on.

A supposedly-simple mission (ha) to steal some starfighters goes incredibly awry when a Star Destroyer shows up. Vastly outnumbered, the Alliance ships are suddenly saved by the arrival of three other Star Destroyers, who attack the first Star Destroyer and destroy it. 

Here’s an excerpt:

There was a long silence before Han hailed the remaining Imperial ships. “Venerator, not to be ungrateful, but what the hell is going on here?”

“Let me take the opportunity for further introductions, then: my name is Fleet Admiral Chalnos Rivian. The Venerator is the flagship of the Fleet of Succession, which has sworn its allegiance to the true heirs of Palpatine’s Empire.”

“Then what are you doing helping us?” Han asked in confusion.

“Because they are currently among your ranks: the Emperor Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia Skywalker, the Lady Vader.”

“Oh shit,” Leia whispered in the cockpit of her X-wing.

---------

For the first time in Leia’s memory, Mon Mothma appeared to be at a loss for words. 

“To be fair,” Leia said, fidgeting awkwardly in her chair, “we assumed that they would figure out that we had tricked them once we had escaped.”

The older woman pressed her fingers to her temples, then let out an exasperated groan. “What the hell did you do?”

“Nothing!”

“There is an Imperial fleet outside, and you call that ‘nothing’?”

“We didn’t—” The rest of Leia’s reply was interrupted by the entrance of General Dodonna, followed by R2-D2.

“Rivian gave us this audio recording, captured during the Battle of Endor,” General Dodonna said, gesturing to Artoo to play the recording. Leia winced as she listened to her brother do his best Scary Sith Lord impression.

“Apparently you were quite convincing,” Mon Mothma said drily once the recording ended. 

“Okay, yes, that… that does sound bad,” Leia said, still wincing.

“And you just forgot to mention this during your debriefing?”

“We were only in charge for fifteen minutes!”

“You staged a coup and your defense is that it was brief?” Mon Mothma asked incredulously.

During Books 3 and 4 of L&O, Vader had been doing some work behind the scenes to gather any Imperial forces who he had influence over and set it up so that if Palpatine died, they would seek out Leia and Luke and follow them. The Rebellion is initially thrilled at the arrival of all of these resources, but are less than thrilled to discover that a) Leia and Luke were sort of technically in charge of the Empire for like five minutes at the end of Book 4, and b) these Imperials are still, well, Imperials and consider themselves heirs to the real Empire, not Rebels. Leia, gritting her teeth, decides to accept their offer and becomes the head of this weird group of not-actually-defectors.

It gets weird.

The head of the fleet is a fanatic who basically worshiped the ground Vader walked on, and is more or less angling to get Leia to take her father’s place in the whole Bloodthirsty Sith Commander department. Leia spends most of the story struggling to do some kind of good with the power she’s been given, but the pressure doesn’t exactly bring out the best in her.

Here’s a scene when Leia breaks up a brawl between a group of Rebels and a group of Imperials under her command: 

“What happened?” Leia demanded. No one seemed prepared to speak, so she pointed at an officer she recognized. “You, Carden, what happened?”

Carden, a wiry dark-skinned man who worked with Agent Lumaan, got to his feet. “Some words were exchanged between the Wookiee and a group of our staff and then he attacked us, ma’am.”

“Without any provocation?” she asked skeptically. She turned to Chewbacca. “What happened?” she asked the Wookiee.

Chewie glared at the officer that Leia had noticed earlier, the one with blood on his face, and began a tirade of furious Shyriiwook that was far too fast for her to follow. At one point, Han nearly rose to his feet, but a few Rogues were able to grab him by the shoulder and hold him back. 

“Chewbacca, please, slow down,” she said. She looked over at Han. “What is he saying?”

Chewie glared up at Leia and used a word in Shyriiwook that Leia knew all too well from Tatooine: “Slave. He called me a slave.”

“And more,” Han growled. “That he had served on Kashyyyk, that he had taken part in what the Empire did there, that he would make sure that he—”

More Rebels joined in, but Leia was no longer listening to their words. She could only hear the blood roaring in her ears. She began to walk slowly towards the officer. “What is your name?” she asked him, her voice soft and dangerous. 

“Lieutenant Stria, ma’am,” he said, carefully standing up. 

“Did you say those things, Lieutenant?”

“No, ma’am, it’s all—”

“I will know if you’re lying,” she said as she stepped closer. “Did you call him a slave? Did you brag about your role in enslaving his people?”

“Ma’am, it’s just a Wookiee—”

Leia snarled and shoved Stria against the nearest wall with the Force. She was in his face only a moment later. “These are our allies, Lieutenant. These are my friends. If you can’t get the most basic notion of respect through your thick duracrete skull, then at least remember that.”

Leia could barely see through her rage. Stria tried to look away; she grabbed his chin and forced him to face her. “I don’t know what Empire you think you’re fighting for, Lieutenant, but now you’re working for me and you know exactly who I am. Exactly what I am: I am the Lady Vader, you useless bucket of Hutt-spit, and I can literally flay you alive if you so much as cough in a way that I deem offensive.”

Pinning the now-shaking Stria to the wall, she turned to face the rest of the Imperials. “That goes for every single one of you: if there is even a single instant of anything other than complete obedience and loyalty, your next trip off the Venerator won’t be on a shuttle—it’ll be through the fucking airlock.”

“And you…” she hissed in Stria’s face, “not only are you no longer a lieutenant, you’re no longer a person. You are a walking carcass who should count his every future breath as a damned miracle. What I have planned for you back on the Venerator is going to make this—” she flicked a finger against the blood drying on his face “—look like a fucking trip to the refresher, you—”

Leia had let go of his chin to indicate the blood; as she did so, Stria slumped to the ground, senseless.

She hadn’t been holding his chin. She had been strangling him. 

Leia flinched back in horror. A dozen Imperial eyes were on her, not to mention those of her former squadmates. She couldn’t have a meltdown right now. She had to get out of here. 

Straining to keep herself from visibly trembling, she signaled two members of the shuttle crew. “Bring him aboard.” He was still alive, at least. She looked at the rest of her staff. “Let’s go.”

Admiral Rivian had apparently been watching the entire incident from the ramp of the shuttle. 

As she passed him, he inclined his head respectfully. “My Lady,” he said, giving her a smile that sent chills down her spine.

So... not great.

While the first series involved Luke’s temptation to the Dark Side and ultimate rejection of it, the sequel series was going to do the same with Leia. Luke, whose temptation had involved experiencing a lot of trauma, is now developing new relationships and support (introducing the Ultimate Sass Squad of Luke Organa, Ezra Bridger, and Mara Jade), while at the same time, Leia is growing increasingly isolated, leaving her vulnerable to the Dark Side.

It all works out in the end, of course. But the journey to get there was a bit more exhausting than I could manage at the time, and I shifted to working on some prequel-era AUs instead.

I hope that answered your question at least a little?